She is a graduate Sarah Lawrence College and the New York University School of Law. Her main area of expertise is alternative dispute resolution. From 1992-1996, she served as Ombudsperson of the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts. Previously, she served as Director of the University of Massachusetts Mediation Project. She is the recipient of grants from the Hewlett Foundation, the Fund for Research on Dispute Resolution, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

Professor Rifkin has written extensively on the subject of alternative dispute resolution and has conducted many training programs for mediators. She is on the editorial boards of Mediation Quarterly and the Ohio State Journal of Dispute Resolution. She is co-founder of the National Association of Mediation in Education (NAME), an advisor to American Bar Association Committee on Dispute Resolution, and a member of the board of the National Association of Community Justice.